We Are One
by Lmere969
Summary: After Rey gets in too deep during her training, it's Kylo who comes to her aid, but is he just using her to get to Luke? - Fusion between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Lion King 2. Seen lots of talk on Tumblr about this idea, so decided to write it. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Title is a song from the Lion King 2 soundtrack and also fits Reylo quite well, in my opinion!

Partial inspiration from these Tumblr posts:

post/168735078368/star-wars-is-following-in-the-footsteps-of-the

post/168765143798/if-we-could-get-a-scene-like-this-in-episode-xi

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The Boy did not belong. Against those who passed him by, with their rough expressions and rougher appearances, he stuck out. The defiant rips in the clothes that were just too small for him, the dirt rubbed into the hems of trousers that showed an inch of ankle, weren't enough to disguise the truth. He didn't belong.

At the edge of a square bathed in evening light, the Boy looked around with a closed face. If his parents could have seen where he was... His nose twitched, pushing his expression into a sneer. They still wouldn't have cared. Boarder was the middle ground between Outland and Pride and he'd been told many a time that it was filled with the worst characters - the people who would smile in your face and stab you in the back. At least, that was what his father said.

The world turned dark as the sun sank below a building and the Boy was thrown into darkness. Blinking his eyes again the sudden change, he considered the sunset. By the time he'd walked all the way home, it would be late, perhaps even late enough for his mother to have got back and started to worry. For a second his heart twisted in guilt, but he shoved it aside with a wave of memories of absent nights. No, his mother wouldn't be back for hours. There was always something else for her to do. Something more important than him. He could stay a bit longer.

Pushing away from the wall he'd been lounging against, the Boy slouched off across the square, feeling the tickle of a chill evening breeze around his ankles and on his ears. Always his ears. Scowling, he took a turn at random and was hit in the chest by a figure with flying brown hair.

The force of the impact was enough to send him staggering back a step and the other person stumbled sideways, nearly recovered themselves, then tripped and sprawled over the ground. A bag that had been slung over their shoulder burst open and various oddly-shaped objects went rolling over the ground. With a curse, the figure scrambled up again, grabbing things and stuffing them back into the bag as fast as they could.

The Boy bent down, hand outstretched to help, but then snatched his fingers back as if burned as he recognised the symbol carved into a golden inset of a cup. He raised his eyes to the other figure and found brown eyes glaring at him.

The Girl snatched up the goblet and advanced on him.

"What are you looking at, Prider?" she spat, prowling further forwards. Her eyes were burning.

The Boy backed away steadily but didn't avert his own gaze.

Eyes still fixed on him, the Girl reached down, fingers somehow unerringly finding the final pieces of her treasure without looking. Stowing them carefully in her bag, she pushed him even further back until the Boy felt a wall behind him. Her eyes flashed again.

"This is the part where you run," she growled.

"Never turn your back on an Outsider!" the Boy shot back and instantly regretted it.

The Girl let out a bark of laughter. "Hah! Did your mummy teach you that?"

"No!" the Boy shot back defiantly. It was true. It was his father's phrase.

"Bet she did. Bet you're mummy's precious little boy," the Girl continued, drawing back.

"Where are _your_ parents?" the Boy shot back. She was even younger than him. "Do they know you're out here, that you've been in _there_?" His eyes darted towards her bag.

For an instant, her face froze. The confrontation didn't fade from her expression, but her eyes went wide with hurt. The look was wiped away quickly.

"I take care of myself," she snorted, drawing herself up and tossing her head, sending an errant piece of hair flying back from her face.

The Boy looked past her, following the motion, and saw something else behind her.

"Really?" he said. "You going to take care of them by yourself?"

The Girl whipped round and the patrol guards coming towards them broke into a run.

"You two! Stop!" they shouted, feet pounding closer.

"I'm not with her!" the Boy spluttered.

"They don't know that," the Girl called, already several feet away and gaining speed.

The Boy looked from her to the guards and back, thinking of the symbol he'd seen on the cup. Would they believe he had nothing to do with here?

With a curse, he spun around and raced after her. Despite having several years on her age and at least a foot on her height, it was all he could do to keep up as she fled, weaving expertly through the evening crowds, slipping down alleyways and around obstacles.

When she finally slowed to a halt, they were both panting.

"That was a close one," the Boy said, glancing up at the rough walls on either side of them before looking at the Girl.

She wasn't paying attention, busy watching the end of the alleyway. She cursed again—a word the Boy had only heard from his father once before his mother had told him off for it—then she turned and ran again. The Boy followed her at once, glancing back to see the guards running down the alley after them.

Left, right, right, over a wall, left again, between two buildings so close together he had to turn sideways to get between them. Still the patrol followed them, seeming to know their every possible route. For all the Girl's passages and quick turns, they couldn't shake them.

Eventually, the boy saw a dark passage and grabbed the Girl's arm, dragging her into it.

"Hey! This—"

Shoving her back against the wall, he clapped a hand across her mouth, forcing her head sideways, his other arm across her shoulders. She struggled but he held her firmly, going still as he stared at the wall over her head, and she gradually froze as well. He didn't even notice.

 _Don't see us, don't see us, don't see us, don't see us, don't see us..._

Hard feet came closer, the patrol guards pausing as they glanced into each passage. Neither the Boy nor the Girl breathed, her from fear, him from concentration.

 _Don't see us, don't see us, don't see us._

The Guards moved on, still seeking their quarry, oblivious to the two figures.

 _Don't see us, don't see us._

 _I see you._

The Boy opened his eyes, looking slowly around. The Guards were gone and the other voice... he must have imagined it.

Looking back down at the Girl, he released her carefully.

"They didn't see us," she whispered, peering along to where the soldiers had indeed passed them by.

The Boy made an ambiguous noise in his throat, reaching out a curious hand towards the bag at her side.

WHAM!

His nose exploded in pain. Raising a hand blindly towards his face, he staggered back two steps before sitting down hard.

"Ow," he said thickly, probing his stinging nose, hoping it wasn't broken. As his vision cleared, he blinked and saw the Girl standing over him, hand still hovering in front of her. "I was only looking," he said.

Her mouth worked for a moment then she dropped her hand.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked, her voice sharp again.

"What do you mean?"

"Your clothes, your... everything. You're not from here, so what are you doing?"

The Boy flushed, climbing quickly back to his feet. It didn't help.

"What are you doing here? And what are you doing with all that stuff from the Old Temple?"

"What?" It was the Girl's turn to draw back now, uncertain.

"All that stuff, the symbol on it. It came from the Old Temple. So... what, you're a thief?"

"I'm not a thief!" she snapped. "No one is there, no one uses that stuff. I'm just... scavenging it."

"Whatever you want to call it," the Boy said. "Sell it in Pride, even at the worst price, and you'd have enough to live anywhere. So what are you doing here?"

"It's not for me. It's a... I'm... I work for the Hyenas."

The Boy's eyebrows rose. He'd seen members of the gang hanging around, the laughing heads branded onto their arms. They weren't the sort of company he'd expected her to keep.

"With that stuff, you could get out," he pointed out. "Just leave, they won't find you."

"I can't leave," she said, glancing away. "I'm... I'm waiting." Another shifty glance. "For my family to come back."

The Boy snorted. "Family isn't always all it's said to be." He regretted the words immediately if only because of the look on her face.

"Is that why you're here?" she asked.

He crossed his arms then dropped them back to his sides, his shirt too small to comfortably allow the movement. "They don't care," he said brusquely. "They don't care what I do."

The Girl just looked at him. He turned away, suddenly wishing for something to block her gaze, a wall, or a mask, something to stop her seeing straight through to his soul.

"They're going to send me away anyway," he blurted out. "To my Uncle. For... training, or something."

She was still watching him. He finally found the courage to meet her gaze and lost himself instantly.

"Well," the Girl said, and he shook himself. "Things to do. Might see you around." She turned and walked away while he was still trying to work out what had happened. The dark alley was suddenly empty as if she'd never been there at all.

"Who are you?" the Boy asked, but there was no one there to reply.

 _Who are you?_

The Boy stiffened, looking around, but there was no one. Just that same voice.

It was nearly dark now. Quickly, he turned and hurried away.

 _Who are you?_

No matter how fast he feet went, he couldn't outrun the voice.

 _Who are you?_

 _Who are you?_

 _Who are you, Ben?_

" _Who are you?_ " the Boy spun in the middle of the empty road, shouting the words to the darkness.

A face flashed before his eyes. Pale mottled flesh, a bulbous forehead, sunken cheeks, a twisted scar.

 _Someone who can teach you far more than your Uncle can._

The Boy hesitated, feeling the presence pulling closer, wrapping around him, inside him, poking at a hidden part deep inside. He followed it, reaching out to the previously untouched depths and a wonderful feeling infused him.

It was warmth, and closeness, and Power. It was like the darkness of the night sky outside had infused his very being, wrapping him tightly and he knew it would never ever let him go. It would never throw him away.

 _I can teach you._

Then the voice was gone, leaving the Boy alone, trembling in the middle of the darkness.

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A/N: Please review! Follow if you want to get notifications of updates, and favourites are also much appreciated! I have plans to continue this if there is interest, so let me know!

(Note that in the main part of the story, I plan on having Kylo as Kovu and Rey as Kiara, but they are the other way around in this chapter, because it fits better with their situation at the time.)


	2. Kylo's Mission

The Boy who didn't belong had grown and been broken. The Man had found a place where he seemed to fit in; a dark room filled with shadows to match his outfit and his soul. Dark within, dark without. Everything was coming together.

"You are ready."

Kylo Ren didn't look around. The Supreme Leader's presence was a constant, whether in physicality or in the rushing current that was only inches away.

Snoke prowled around his student, shoulders hunched as they always were when he walked.

"You have the same blackness in your soul that Vader had," he said, coming to a halt beside Kylo, who felt a stir in his stomach.

Almost, he reached out into the current, to search for that elusive other who sometimes came to him. His grandfather wasn't always there, but he always came again eventually, with a touch that was surprisingly soft to carry so much power. The softest thing Kylo could remember feeling.

"What is your destiny?"

"I will take my grandfather's place, and bring about Vader's vision for the galaxy," Kylo intoned, the words slightly garbled by his mask, but eligible nonetheless. He felt their truth resonate through him. _His destiny_... A goal, a purpose, that could not be denied.

"What have we taught you?"

Kylo didn't even notice the plural.

"The light is a lie. Power can only come from darkness. Luke Skywalker... is the enemy."

The red anger that pulsed through him was tinged with blue.

Memory of a dark hut, being pulled from sleep by a green light and a familiar sound. Even his own uncle...

"What must you do?"

A flare in his chest. Not just something he had to do—something he wanted to do, something he was longing to do.

Black leather cracked as two gloved hands formed fists.

"I must kill him."

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Outside, with a toss of overly-greased ginger hair, another man turned away with disgust marring his already twisted face. He hadn't been broken by external forces; he'd formed wrong all by himself.

 _Ren, Ren, Ren_ , he snarled to himself. _Everyone thinks he's so special. Don't they see? One little thing goes wrong and he throws a tantrum like a toddler. It shouldn't be all on him._

Scowl hidden behind a clenched jaw, he strode the corridors.

 _Lucky it's not then,_ he thought smugly. There were other targets, other paths to take, other people to lead the way along them. People like him.

And if he wasn't going to be given a chance, he was going to make one.

He would leave Ren to his mission. He had his own plan.

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 **A/N:** Short, but hope you enjoyed! Thanks to Scarlett Barnes (go check out her Star Wars fics – they're amazing! User link: [usual ff.n] /u/2109494/ ) for giving me the push to re-watch Lion King 2, which lead to many pages of notes and a full-blown plan for this fic. The number of parallels astounds me, and I'm really excited to write and share this with anyone listening.

So... is anyone listening? Please leave a review!


	3. Where I'm Standing

"Ben!"

The shout makes her twitch, but it's not enough to wake her.

It was brighter than it had actually been that day, an eerie light casting everything into false illumination. Ren, Han, the bridge.

She saw it all again, watched it all again, just as powerless to stop it.

That blaze of red, and then Han was falling, and she was falling...

Rey awoke with a jerk, throwing out a hand to catch herself from the phantom freefall.

Sitting up, she smoothed her hair back from her face, knuckles white as she clenched the edge of the bench, staring at nothing. She sat there for a long time, until the sun flashed through gaps in the stone wall of the hut, hitting her in the eyes. Blinking, Rey stood up, facing the door.

 _Day 2. Lesson 2._ Luke had promised her three of them.

Not that lesson one had got her very far. She'd skimmed along the current of the Force easily enough, holding her place under Luke's tutelage, rather than being swept away, but his words remained unintelligible to her.

" _All the wisdom, all the courage, all the strength you will ever need, you can find here,_ " he'd said to her. " _We are all one within the Force._ "

It wasn't true though. In the Force, everyone was more different than ever. She could feel every soul, and they were all unique, distinct. The Force linked them, but it didn't make them one, it just highlighted the distance between them.

Maybe today's lesson would be easier to understand.

 _Of course, you can't understand. You can't comprehend the idea of unity. You've never known what it is. You've never had a family._

Rey blinked and walked firmly out the door.

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"Today is about self-awareness. About letting go and finding your way back. When you skim the surface of the Force, you feel other souls, can sometimes even watch things through them, but you cannot find them, or influence their thoughts."

 _Like I made that storm-trooper do what I wanted_ , Rey thought, her heart leaping as she made the connection.

Luke continued, oblivious. "To do more, you must go deeper. Sometimes a lot deeper. It takes control, focus, discipline to do so, and even more to bring yourself back out. Lose focus, and you will lose yourself, drifting forever in the Force, even if your body remains here. I've seen it before," he said grimly as he paced back and forth. "Don't expect me to be your caretaker if you get lost."

He stopped very suddenly, turning to face her. "I cannot help you here. If you go down, you go alone. You must learn to come back alone, or you will never be able to do it yourself."

Then he turned and walked out of the cave.

Rey scrambled to her feet, turning to watch him. "That's it?!"

"Off you go." He did not look back.

Rey stood there, stunned. She didn't understand. She was supposed to go deeper? And then come back? All by herself? But how?

Slowly, she sat back down again. Maybe it was some sort of test? It seemed like everything she'd done since she came to this wretched, storm-tossed island was a test. Well, she would pass it. And she would pass them all, until Luke agreed to come back with her.

Closing her eyes, Rey reached out. Not with her hand, as she had that first time. With her _self_. Her whole being. Thoughts, feelings, body.

The Force was there. Around her, inside her. Everywhere.

She held herself, aware of her body as well as the rushing current, threatening to sweep her away. Was that what Luke had been talking about – losing herself? Could she be swept away forever?

It was easy to hold on from the shallows, but if she went deep, really deep... how would she find her way back?

 _It's a test. You have to pass it._

Rey steeled herself, preparing to plunge, when she sensed something else.

Another presence, floating close by.

 _"_ _I thought I had to do this alone_ , _"_ she threw the angry thought at Luke's presence and opened her eyes, her breaths hard and fast as she leapt to her feet.

She was out the cave and striding down the beach, in the opposite direction to the huts, before she'd even thought about what to do.

How was she supposed to learn, to train, if he wouldn't even give her a chance? He'd never given her a chance. He was just waiting to toss her aside like he'd thrown away the lightsaber. He wasn't giving her a chance. He wasn't giving the Resistance a chance. They were out there, fighting, running, waiting for her to come back with their saviour, and Luke wasn't giving her a chance. He'd given up on them, on the Jedi, on her.

She hadn't given up though. She wasn't going to.

Flinging herself down onto a boulder lodged in the sand, she closed her eyes and, still feeling the anger coursing through her, dived.

She went deep. Very deep.

Deeper than when she was skimming. Deeper than when she'd commanded the storm-trooper. Deeper than when she'd let the Force guide her actions in that fight in the forest. Deeper than she'd realised she could go.

And she was still descending.

Fear washed over her and she flung herself wide, slowing her descent. The current was so strong! Tugging her around, pulling her to pieces until she didn't know which way was up and which was down. She didn't know how to get back to the surface. She was lost.

Panicking now, she stretched further, trying to find some shred of light to lead her way back, but there was nothing. Just endless noise and pressure.

Then there was something. Two somethings, cloaked in a patch of darkness emanating from one, smothering the other.

" _—_ _go!_ " the former snarled.

She tried to reach out to them, but they were swept away from her.

Countless lives flashed before her. She was passing them and at the same time, she _was_ them. Too many lives. Losing her own... Losing everything...

Something caught her wrist.

 _Her_ wrist. Hers alone. No one else's.

She suddenly had her own life again, her own body, and the grip upon it was an anchor. She raced along it and found the surface. She broke free.

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Grey sky above her. Sand under her back and fingers. The sound of waves.

"Where am I?" a girl asked of no one in particular.

"You're safe. Back in the world."

A girl leapt to her feet and saw a man. A man she knew. And then she knew herself. A girl was called Rey. She was on an island, with Luke Skywalker.

And apparently, with Kylo Ren too.

"You! Murderous snake! What the hell are you doing here? How are you here?" she snarled, stepping backwards.

His fingers flexed, and she felt a pressure on her wrist lighten, though they were several feet apart. His form drifted apart, then solidified again.

She blinked, and he wavered again. He wasn't there, not really. He was coming through the Force, somehow. Through... something.

Luke had never mentioned anything like this.

Her fingers touched her own wrist, and she remembered. Something had gripped her, held her, anchored her. Something had shown her the way back. Or some _one_.

"Why did you do that? Who do you think you are?"

Kylo Ren scoffed, half turning away. "I'm the one who just saved your life."

"I had everything under control," Rey snapped.

"Not from where I was standing," he countered.

"Then move," Rey said, turning and storming away along the beach.

Something tugged inside her, solidifying and breaking at the same time. She whipped around, ready to confront him about what he'd just done, but was met with an empty stretch of pebble-strewn sand. He was gone.

For a second, she just stared at the empty space. There were two light imprints of boots in the sand. He had really gone.

 _Good_ , she thought viciously, turning away.

She remembered how close she'd been to losing herself, and shivered. Again, her own fingers drifted to her wrist, feeling again the firm grip that had held so steady.

A red piece of thread stretched away, bonded to her by more than just a knot. Tentatively, she felt her way along it, feeling it pulling through the current of the Force. She suddenly knew exactly who was on the other end and pulled away at once.

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Kylo Ren stood alone, feeling a cautious searching before the scavenger girl pulled back again. He hadn't expected her to manifest suddenly in front of him. When she'd broken out of the Force, he thought he'd failed, that she had escaped him, but somehow the contact had remained, tenuous but undeniable. Something he'd never experienced before.

He hadn't been able to see where she was, so no clues about her and Skywalker's location, but no matter.

Despite her anger, the first encounter had been a successful one. The Supreme Leader's plan was working.

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A/N: Went to see The Last Jedi again today for the first time since the midnight premiere, and got enough notes down that I think I can make good progress on this now.  
It's going to be a weird amalgamation of the plots of Lion King 2 and Last Jedi, but following closer to Lion King, I think.  
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, things are just starting to develop. Please take the time to leave me a review!


	4. The Offer Stands

"You've been avoiding me."

Rey jerked to a halt, closing her eyes at Luke's words. It was undeniably true; she hadn't returned to the village after her dive into the Force, and her encounter after leaving it. She'd paced around the island for hours, keeping away from any place she'd seen Luke visit, and was only returning now the sun was setting, a chilly wind rising.

"What happened?" Luke asked, his voice surprisingly mild as she turned to face him.

She told him about how she'd gone into the Force, about how she'd gone much deeper than she'd expected to.

When she fell silent, he nodded, seeming unsurprised.

"Anger," he said. "It's a strong emotion. An easy way to the Dark side, and a powerful connection to the Force." He made no comment on the source of her anger. "What's important is that you got yourself out again. And now you know what your anger can allow you to do. Think how much damage it could cause. There's a reason why the Jedi learnt to control their emotions."

"I... I felt a presence, when I was in there," Rey said. "Kylo Ren."

Luke looked up at her quickly. "Did he follow you? Does he know where we are?"

"No," Rey said quickly. "But..." She hesitated, trying to reconcile the monster who'd killed his own father with such lack of remorse, and the man who pulled her out of the drowning, swirling hell she'd nearly lost herself in.

"What happened to him? Why did he turn?"

Luke was silent for a moment, staring out over the cliffs.

"I had been training Ben, and several other potential children. One evening, I went to confront him about the darkness I'd felt growing inside him. He turned on me, brought the whole building down on us both. I was knocked unconscious, he must have thought I was dead. When I came to, he was gone, with a few of my other students. He'd killed the rest, and the temple was burning."

There was silence, except for the distant sound of the constant waves, and occasional bird call.

Luke shook his head, pulling himself out of the memory. "I failed him. Leia believed it was Snoke's influence, but even if that's true, I still failed him. I shouldn't have let Snoke live."

"You didn't fail Kylo. Kylo failed you," Rey said, standing up and walking away, leaving Luke alone with a dark sky.

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Rey was up early the next day, expecting her final lesson, but apparently not early enough. The huts were cold and empty, with no sign of Luke. Feeling off balance, she made her way slowly down to the coast, and the rowing boat moored there. From this side of the island, she could just about see the mainland in the distance, blurred by the light rain. She couldn't quite believe that she'd rowed all that way alone.

Staring across the water, Rey thought of the others. Finn, Leia, all the resistance fighters who were counting on _her_. The First Order legions were out there too, working their way across the land, crushing anyone who stood against them. The Resistance were the only ones still fighting. The last spark of hope. Rey's spark was fading. At the moment, all she was hoping was that the rebels were staying ahead of the First Order, never mind fighting back.

Rey turned away, intending to go and find Luke, and found her path blocked.

This time, he looked just as surprised as she did. He looked around, frowning.

"How is this happening?" Kylo Ren asked. "I shouldn't be able to see you outside of the Force like this. Can you see my surroundings? I can't see yours."

"Go away," Rey said, stepping past him.

"I'm not doing this," he said, turning slowly to keep facing her. "This is something... else."

"Just leave me alone!" Rey said, rounding on him. "You're too late. You lost. I found Luke Skywalker."

"I see." Ren seemed to be considering her. "Did he tell you what happened the night I destroyed his temple?"

"Yes!"

"No," he said, frowning slightly as he stared at her.

"Yes, he did. He told me everything. I know _everything_ I need to know about you."

"You do?" He paused, the intensity of his gaze increasing. "Ah, you do. You have that look in your eyes, from the forest. When you called me a monster."

"You _are_ a monster."

His gaze slipped away from her. "Yes, I am."

"So why..." She bit the question off, but his focus had returned.

"Why what?"

She hesitated, but the question broke from her in a rush. "Why did you pull me out?"

He shook his head. "Why were you even that deep to start with? And alone."

"I was just doing what—" Rey bit her tongue again.

"What Skywalker told you to do?" He snorted, looking away. "He never was much of a teacher."

"As if you could do better!" Rey snapped.

Kylo's eyes bored into hers. Rey regretted her words at once.

"I already said I could teach you," Kylo said.

' _You need a teacher! I can show you the ways of the Force._ '

A forest, blue and red, flashing and clashing. Han Solo falling.

"The offer stands," Kylo said.

They stared at each other for another moment.

Rey couldn't take it anymore. She wanted him gone.

And then he was.

Rey spun on the spot, shocked. Had he really gone? Coincidence, or had she shut him out? There was something... a sort of smothering feeling on her wrist. Or maybe in her chest.

Shaking her head, she turned away and began the walk back towards the village.

.

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"What was that?" Hux snapped, releasing a small arm and rubbing his temples. This 'surfing', as he thought of it, made his head hurt worse every time. The power was worth it though.

A dismissive wave of Snoke's hand and there was a patter of small feet retreating.

"He didn't do anything, didn't hurt her, didn't even try to weaken her at all!" Hux continued.

"Quiet!" Snoke growled, raising a threatening finger. "There is a larger plan at work here. The girl is with Skywalker. Ren can use her to find him, and then we'll deal with the girl afterwards. He is making progress with her."

Sitting back in his chair, Snoke considered his General. The lengths he had to go to in order to calm Hux's inane desire to access the Force was ridiculous, but the man had his uses.

"Tell me about how your plan is coming," he prompted, turning the General's attention away from Kylo Ren.

A smile spread across Hux's face. "Everything is coming together. We are closing in on the rebels. It's only a matter of time. We have them tied on the end of a string."

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Really getting into the fusion, so hope it's not too jarring... There's going to be bits here and there — plots, dialogue, character, etc, from both movies. Going to move quite fast, looking at approx 13 chapters from the plan, but that will probably fluctuate.  
This is my first time writing third person. Let me know if I'm doing okay! Con-crit always welcome!


	5. Teacher Student

A presence hung in the Force, completely in control, never wavering in the rush of other souls racing past, tugging with incessant thoughts and whispers. The presence belonged to a man, or perhaps a boy, who wasn't nearly as steady as his control would suggest.

Kylo felt everything and nothing. He was aware of every tendril of thought passing him, but he dismissed them all. They weren't important, weren't the one he was searching for.

Here, in the current, it was so much easier to sense the bond to the girl. It practically glowed. Outside, he could almost forget about her. Almost. No chance of that here though. In this phantom realm, where nothing could be seen, it blazed like his saber before his eyes, shifting constantly from red through purple and back again, thickening and coiling.

His body sat up straighter, wiping his search from his mind just as he located her presence on the outer reaches of his perception. Her approach was steady but sent ripples through the current. As each thought tried to tug her away, she pushed it aside forcefully, sending a small shockwave out. She had no discipline, no sense of how to move as part of the current, rather than barging through it. Skywalker was truly being neglectful in her training.

Kylo watched as she hung a little way back, perhaps thinking him unaware of her or maybe just considering what to do. With a patience he never had in the real world, he waited for her to decide on her next move.

Ever so softly, he examined her presence, probing around the edges, not trying to gain access to her thoughts, but merely examining the shape of them. The outer edge pulsed, a soft breathing like a constantly changing cloud but underneath he could feel the iron hard shield. He'd encountered it before, when he'd tried to break into her mind to find the map to Skywalker. How things might have changed if he'd succeeded. Too late to speculate.

In one sudden rush of movement, she was beside him, and though he'd been waiting for it (not hoping, of course, but waiting), he still flinched a little.

For a moment, they simply existed. Each was aware of the other's attention on them, but neither spoke. Kylo could sense her conflict, seeping through the shield around her inner thoughts.

"You have no stealth," he commented, breaking the silence.

A few others' thoughts turned towards them at his words, but he pushed them out with ease.

Her emotions flared instantly, anger rippling across her aura. "What's that supposed to mean?" she shot at him.

He hesitated, letting the emotion fade before he replied.

"It means anyone with a shred of sensitivity will be able to feel you in the current," he explained. "You send ripples in every direction. You'll never be able to find someone, or approach them without their knowledge."

There was a moment's pause that seemed to stretch on for a long time.

"What do you mean?" she asked eventually.

There was another long pause as they both realised the roles they had fallen into. Offer made, offer accepted, in actions if not in words.

"You push through everything," Kylo explained.

"What else am I supposed to do?" the girl asked him. "It stops them pulling me away."

"It also sends ripples," he countered. "Don't try and _stop_ them catching you, just make sure you're more anchored than their attempts to pull you away."

"But there's nothing to anchor myself _to_!" she pointed out.

"Everything is an anchor. Anchor yourself to your body, your memories, yours _elf_ , and you can't be swept away. Then let everything else flow over you, past you."

Her confusion was palpable.

"Like this," he said, without only the faintest hint of a sigh.

Drifting away from her, he hung, just as he had before she had arrived. Motionless and calm, a stone in rushing water.

For an instance, Rey's attention was captured by an errant through rushing past, and when she looked back, for a second she couldn't locate him in the stream. It was with a slight smugness that he shifted, drawing her attention back as he moved through the water. Not a single one of the people whose thoughts he touched noticed his presence.

In the real world, he was a dark giant, leaving cowering figures in his wake. Here, he was a ghost, slipping unnoticed through the world, and the minds of its inhabitants.

"It's not about holding yourself apart from them," he said softly, the words only just strong enough to reach her. "It's about being a part of them. Being one with them."

 _We are all one within the Force,_ Luke's phrase resonated through her. Was this what he had meant?

Kylo was back in front of her in seconds, and she wiped the thought of her absent teacher from her thoughts. If he hadn't been avoiding her, she wouldn't have come here at all. Or so she told herself.

"Being a part of them," Rey repeated quietly to herself.

Seemingly forgetting about Kylo, she contemplated the current around her. It was relatively shallow here but still, she hesitated, her aura tinged with fear.

"Let go," Kylo urged her gently.

"I can't," she said. "I'll lose myself."

"You won't, I've got you."

Still, she hesitated.

"I caught you before. I can do it again," he reminded her.

Instead of calming, the fear around her intensified, and he cursed silently. Why had he reminded her of that? She'd nearly been lost. Hardly a reassuring memory.

But even as he tried to think of something else to say, she surprised him again.

The fear was gone, not eradicated perhaps, but shut down behind that iron will, replaced by determination. Her presence wavered slightly, then softened in an indescribable way. Kylo recognised the change at once. She was no longer disrupting the flow, but slipping through it, under it. He could sense the thoughts rushing past her, but they weren't pushed aside anymore. With a shudder, as if the process had cost her, she surfaced again, solidifying in a rush, flinging out tendrils to steady herself.

"Not a bad start," Kylo acknowledged, though in reality, he was impressed. She'd managed that faster than he'd expected. "This is the basis for tracking people. The key is not to let them know you're watching. People can't resist, can't hide, if they don't know you're coming." It was also the basis for breaking into someone's mind, but he didn't think she needed to know that.

"You need to be able to move through the current as well. Try to approach me without me noticing."

"But you know I'm coming."

"That shouldn't matter," he said. "There are very few people who would be able to sense you coming like this." After his fruitless searching, Kylo was starting to think Skywalker might be one of them. Snoke definitely could. He may not have a lightsaber, but his mastery over the Force current was unparalleled.

"Okay," the girl said slowly. The word was laced with uncertainty, but she retreated beyond his direct perception anyway.

Knowing she would hesitate and dawdle for a few moments, Kylo turned his attention away, sensing others moving past. A group of children playing with a ball, one of them so much strong than the others. That one would be worth watching.

She came faster than he expected, but without any of the subtlety he'd hoped for. It was like watching the fish in the shallows of the lake close to where he'd grown up. They were under the water, but that didn't stop him seeing them. She was a fish. She should have been the water.

Slipping out of her path was too easy.

Expecting to catch him, she overshot and went tumbling past, quickly throwing out tendrils to steady herself as she turned back.

He drifted over to her.

"You felt me coming," she said. It wasn't a question

"Only, a lot," he said. "You're still moving through it, not _with_ it."

"And fish?"

"What?"

"You thought something about fish."

Kylo clamped down hard on his thoughts. She shouldn't have been able to see that. "When you think about this place, what do you call it?" he asked her, turning the attention away from himself.

"A current," she said, after a moment's pause.

"Exactly. A current. A river. Like water. But it's made up of people, their thoughts. The people are the water. You need to be the water too."

"Not a fish."

"Exactly," Kylo confirmed, with a flash of amusement.

She was quiet for a few moments, considering.

"Watch," he said. Again he drew away from her, moving in fast circles. It was a mental effort not to become part of the current now, after so much practice, but he held himself apart with an effort. Everywhere he moved, he left ripples. Once he was sure she was watching, he relaxed, slipping back to become one with the river.

She moved closer, following his movement.

"Do it again," she said, her focus on his so acute it was like he could see her eyes boring into him.

Regardless, he obliged, pulling out of the flow then gliding back into it. This time, she followed him, falling into place with only the barest sign of her presence, not just moving in the current, or riding along with it. She was part of it, as he was. It wasn't a perfect transition — she still held back a little — but it was progress.

"Now what?" she asked eagerly, sensing her own success.

"Keep up," he said and was gone.

She was after him in seconds, bulling through the current again.

"Not a fish," he reminded her, shaking his head silently.

She quickly realised her mistake, correcting it to skim along with him, barely discernable from the current around them. He could still feel her, the thread connecting them ever-present.

"This is so fast!" she said, then pulled up a little, concerned. "But won't we leave our bodies behind?"

"There's no space here. You can't move from where you started. You're just as close to your body as when you first entered."

"But..."

"Don't think about it too much," Kylo advised. "Gives me a headache. Come on."

He sped up again. If there was no space though, how could there be speed? And how could her presence be out of his reach? Surely if there was a distance between them, there was distance in all directions, so he should be able to move beyond the limits...

Shaking his head, he pushed aside the mystery he'd thought over a hundred times before.

"Watch," he said, then slipped from the current into the first thoughts he found.

 _A gambler, ready to place a bet. It was the end of the night, his last chip. Black or red?_

 _'_ Black _,' Kylo urged silently, and the gambler did as he suggested. Kylo slipped out before he saw the outcome of the bet._

"Most people who are Force-sensitive will be able to tell if they're being influenced," he told the girl as he dissipated back into the current, "but anyone will feel something wrong if you bull into their heads. You need to be there without them knowing about you. Get in without even intending to."

"Show me again," she instructed.

He slipped into a different mind.

 _A child, running, chasing. Without fear. A ridiculous game, without purpose._

 _He was about to retreat when one of the other children in the group suddenly looked around at him, a wide grin on their face._

Withdrawing, he just caught the waft of her presence leaving the other child but instead of returning to his side, she dove into another of the group, running with them.

"Come on!" she laughed and was gone.

Bewildered, he followed, watching her flit from one little life to another, laughing as she directed their steps, playing the ball between their feet.

"What's the point of this training?" Kylo asked, as she transitioned to another child.

"Training?" she scoffed. "Not everything has to be for training. This is just for fun?" She was gone again.

"Fun?" Kylo echoed. He remembered watching fish in a lake, a still board in the evening with no one on the other side, groups of children who looked at him and drew back, whispered his name behind their hands.

He remembered running down twilit streets, chasing a tiny slip of a girl, fleeing from guards.

Cautiously, he slipped back into one of the children, feeling their emotions. Heart pumping, blood racing, whoops of joy. Fun? He watched the girl jumping between them. Why not? Giving himself over, he joined her, giving himself over to the game and forgetting everything else just for a moment. He let go.

.

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed! I had lots of fun writing this chapter, which was much longer than I expected. Not sure how long the next one will be, but this one surprised me, so will have to see.  
Feel like I'm struggling with sentence starts, writing in 3rd person for the first time. I also know I switched POV for a couple of paragraphs in here, but hey ho.  
Let me know what you thought!


	6. The Same Darkness

Two presences hung in the Force, completely in balance, neither wavering before the rush of thoughts that surrounded them. They were part of the current. They were the water, not the fish.

Aware of each thought that passed by them, they exchanged observations that sometimes bordered on jokes, neither noticing the thread between them growing slowly thicker.

"You've done this before," Kylo observed, after a period of silence.

Rey hesitated. "Yes," she eventually admitted. "With..."

"Skywalker."

"Yes. He showed me how to skim people's thoughts. He says..." Rey hesitated, but if there was a chance at all that he might know the truth, she had to try and ask. "He says that all the great Force Users of the past are in here. That they're part of it. And they watch over us."

Kylo was silent, but she could feel something building in him, and her own anxious excitement peaked.

"I wonder if Vader is in here."

Her disappointment was nothing compared to her shock and she turned to him with new focus.

Seemingly sensing her attention he suddenly went stiff, his own surprise bleeding into his usually blank aura. For a second they were both silent and motionless, then he was gone, and she finally felt the ripples he'd mentioned earlier, the sudden lack of his presence sending shockwaves through the current. Rey could still feel him though.

With a breath, she opened her eyes, blinking against the sudden light. Ahead of her, a dark figure stood, emblazed against the sea, staring out as if he could see it too.

Carefully, she stood up, walking closer and stopping just behind his shoulder. The bond between them was rippling with his suppressed emotions.

"I was told," he said eventually, "that there was a darkness inside Vader that he couldn't escape. The same blood is in me. The same... darkness. Luke could see it." There was a bitterness in his tone that chilled the air.

"What happened?" Rey asked quietly.

For a second, it seemed like he wouldn't answer, then he took in a deep breath and a memory that was not her own filled her mind.

 _A dark room, a green glow. Turning over. A face she knew but younger, and twisted with hate. Dark eyes burning. A lightsaber, raised in anger..._

" _He sensed my power,_ " Kylo's bitter thoughts overlaid his memory. " _As he senses yours. And he feared it._ "

She felt it all. Felt his sudden fear coupled with anger and a bitter, twisted fury that someone else had been right all along. Someone who had been whispering in his ear for a long time. She felt his instinctive reaction, how easily the Force acted on his will.

 _His lightsaber leapt into his hand as if it had been waiting for him to call. He rolled, whipping it through the air to defend himself, blocking Luke's down-stroke. The sabers crashed together, sparks flying inches from his face and he reached out again, ripping power from the waiting river, the walls crumbling over them._

The vision ended as quickly as it had begun, but not before Rey felt a sudden flash of anger, egged on by that other presence. Far stronger, however, was the final surge of hurt and anger, of betrayal. Again.

Her cheeks were wet.

"You..." she broke off. She wanted to brush the story aside as lies. Memories could be fabricated, but the emotions that went with them could not be, and there was too much emotion here.

"I'm sorry," she said, reaching out and touching his arm without thinking about it.

He didn't pull away, but sucked in a sudden breath, eyes closing.

Rey didn't know what else to say. The contact only enhanced their bond; she could feel the tug on her wrist where he'd first pulled her out of the current.

Eventually, he moved, but it wasn't to shrug her off. He pulled off one of his ever-present gloves and took her bare hand in his.

Their skin connected in water and flames. Ice and sparks. Steam and fire.

They both stared blindly into the distance, looking at things only they could see.


	7. Upendi

**A/N** : No, I didn't manage to incorporate pink hippos on leaf-swings or swooning baboons.

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.

Kylo pulled away far too late. Turning away, he strode back and forth across his room as the girl, _Rey_ , staggered slightly.

"What's wrong?" she asked, taking half a step toward him. She sounded worried. _Worried_. About him.

"I..." he stopped. He couldn't do it. He couldn't tell her.

 _Just say it!_ he snarled at himself

 _I only saved you because you know where Skywalker is, and I need to find him._

He turned to face her. Eyes wide, chin tilted up to watch him, concern written all over her expression.

 _But that's not why you're still here, is it?_ A different voice. Still his, but snide, harsh.

"I..." Again, the words wouldn't come. What would Hux think if he could see Kylo now? "I have to go," he forced out, turning away, readying himself to withdraw, to retreat across the distance that separated them.

"Wait..."

She sounded so broken, so defeated. So _sad_. He swallowed, looking away, but even as he readied himself to dive, a blue tinge stopped him, shimmering and solidifying before him.

"Going somewhere, you is?"

Kylo gaped. This wasn't a fleeting feeling in the current, an errant wisp of memory from someone long gone. This was solid, or at least, nearly solid, visible in front of him, glowing slightly blue around the edges. He must be seeing things. He'd finally cracked.

"Uh, no," he said quickly.

The hallucination giggled. "That's what you think," it said smugly, long ears wiggling. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone.

Kylo was left staring at an empty space.

"Who was that?" Rey asked, suddenly at his side.

Kylo nearly jumped. "Ah... an old Jedi. Master Yoda. He died, years and years ago."

"Hmmm, come on, you follow the dead one, he knows the way."

They both jumped this time, spinning on the spot. The construct wasn't visible this time, but Kylo could feel it, hovering in the current, somehow simultaneously closer to the surface and deeper than he'd ever been.

"The way to where?" Kylo asked, perplexed.

"You follow, you see," Yoda's voice came again, somehow resonating in his ears, not his mind, despite its origins.

"Do we go with him?" Rey asked.

Kylo opened his mouth but had no words.

"Hurry now."

Kylo closed his mouth and glanced sideways. Rey, seemingly taking it as acceptance, grabbed his hand again — the one with the glove on, why had he even taken the other one off? — and dove. He went with her willingly, following the trail, like a wafted scent, down through the current, below the main stream to the quiet depths, where Rey hesitated.

She could feel where they were meant to go, he could sense it in her aura, but she was also remembering what had happened last time she'd ventured too deep.

"Where is he taking us?" she asked, cautious now.

" _Special place, it is._ " The words came from all around them, from the very current itself.

Kylo took the lead, grasping Rey tightly and inching them forwards. She resisted at first but, feeling the surety of his grip, gave in to the movement. Something in Kylo, in a deep dark place that called itself Ben, twisted guilty. She was trusting herself and trusting him.

Yoda's presence led them deep, deeper than Kylo had ever been, until he and Rey were holding onto each other, kept together only by the steady grip of the other and the snaking rope between them.

" _Very special place,_ " Yoda's voice was quieter now as if the words were unwilling to disturb the peace of this place. There were no other thoughts here; they were too deep for any non Force user to venture. Privately, Kylo doubted that even Snoke had ever delved this deep into the current.

" _What is this_?" Kylo asked, and his voice was hushed as well.

Laughter echoed from all sides. Male, female, old, young, everything in between. All laughing, but they weren't laughing at him. They were just laughing, true joy in the mixture of sound.

Kylo threw himself as wide as he could whilst still maintaining his grip on Rey, but there was no one there. He could feel nothing.

And then he could feel everything.

When a single raindrop falls into the ocean, does it cease to exist, or does it become the entire sea?

Kylo panicked instantly. He was losing himself! He would be lost forever. He would never get the chance to—

Rey's composure calmed him a little. Questing towards her, he felt tranquillity and wonder. There wasn't even a shred of fear.

" _This isn't losing yourself,_ " she told him, with the surety of one who'd felt the beginning of such a fate, too distracted to be amused. " _This is something... else. Just look._ "

Turning his attention back to the current, Kylo hesitated. There was... colour or something that might have been colour, tingeing everything. The closer he looked, the more form it took.

Master Yoda's presence was still there, as fleeting and incomprehensible as the stories described him, tingled in a stream of different strands that surrounded everything here, swirling through every life and thought.

A familiarity caught his attention and he lunged, reaching desperately for the presence he'd felt once before. Even as he stretched towards it, it was slipping out of his reach and it was gone. Left frustrated and angry, Kylo finally turned his attention to the wide expanse of this place, the details that the long-gone ghosts were encircling, that Rey had been studying all that time.

 _New life. Unlimited potential. A child born of hope and wishes. The sheer joy taken in the tiny creature. A child born of sadness and pain. Given away. Taken in. Raised with gratitude and amazement and love._

 _Death. An old one, passing peacefully. A young one, gone before their dreams were realised. One who never lived at all. The effect of them all spreading like ripples. Grief and tears born of love._

 _Partnership. Long-lasting, nurtured since childhood. Newly discovered, a meeting of eyes in the right place at the right time. Mutual benefits and mutual compromises, strength, support, caring, concern, compassion, love._

 _Duality. Harsh orders given, grief as they are carried out. Ignorance at the suffering of others, rigorous defence of those close to them. Sadness and joy. Anger and love._

Kylo turned away, reversing his attention inwards to avoid looking any more. The hold on him was released and he was floating upwards again. He'd never been so relieved to feel the familiar tug of the main current. Ascending slowly, he could still feel Rey close by, but at that moment, it was as if they were both immune to the plucking of the thoughts around them.

" _What was that?_ " she asked, her voice awestruck, as they came to a stop close to the surface.

" _I think... that was balance,_ " he replied slowly.

There was a moment of silence. Another word hung between them, but neither was willing to say it. It wasn't part of either of their plans.

.

In their preoccupation, neither of them noticed another presence watching them, its anger growing. He should never have taught her anything. The boy had been corrupted, and now he was corrupting her in turn. The cycle had to stop.

.

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 **A/N** : Many thanks to people who reviewed! Even if you're a guest and I can't reply, they are still much appreciated!  
Sorry this is late, I was hoping to update last Wednesday, but I've had a hellish week, and only just managed to get back to the place where I can write again. Still, I hope you enjoyed this! Drop me a review and let me know!


	8. Ambush

_Now_. This was his chance. He would do it now. Hux felt the small power he grasped flickering and mercilessly tightened his grip. Ren would do it now. It was the perfect opportunity. He would kill Skywalker, or at least weaken him. Any second now...

Snoke was right beside him, hovering in anticipatory watchfulness.

Waiting for Ren to make his move. The final decisive move.

.

.

Rey didn't know what else to say. The experience of seeing what felt like the whole universe was too vast even try to describe, and something wove through it all... something far too similar to the threat that connected her with the presence beside her.

"I..." she said, but the sentence never came.

He wasn't even listening to her.

Confused, and a little hurt, she followed the path of his attention and went just as still.

It was Luke. Silent and unreadable but clearly watching them from the very edge of her perception.

"Luke..." Rey began, but again, didn't get any further.

Luke's presence pulsed with an almost effortless energy and suddenly she was back in the real world, her back slamming hard into the ground, her head pounding.

With a groan of pain, Rey sat up, blinking against the too-bright afternoon sun.

The thread on her wrist twitched with concern and she tugged back gently in reassurance. Taking a deep breath, she threw herself back towards the Force but rebounded, physically flinching back as the pain in her head escalated. Something was keeping her out.

 _No,_ she realised, as she pushed against the barrier. _Someone. Luke._ He was keeping her out. Gritting her teeth, Rey pushed to her feet. If he was keeping her outside of the current, she would find him in this world instead.

.

.

The girl was gone, now he would act. Hux tensed, but still nothing. Even he could sense Ren and Skywalker, both exquisitely aware of the other, and gloriously oblivious to them watching. But as the standoff lengthened and Ren still made no move, Hux's anger flared. He wasn't going to do it. Such a failure. Another anger was building beside him, terrible in its intensity.

Yet even as it felt Snoke's anger would sear the entire world to ash, it was contained with a sudden cold logic.

.

.

Kylo was frozen. Too much was happening. Rey, Yoda, the vision, the hint of a revelation that he simultaneously wanted to accept and reject. Now his uncle was here, and Rey was gone.

After so long searching, finally, Luke Skywalker was right there. The legend, his mother's brother... the one who'd tried to kill him, who had let Rey go so recklessly deep into the current unaccompanied.

Still he did nothing.

" _Ben._ "

His old name, that would once have sent a spike through his heart, did nothing to him now.

What was he supposed to do? There had been a plan, hadn't there? Why could he no longer remember what it had been?

Skywalker shifted in the current, drawing slowly closer.

But before either of them could do anything else, Kylo felt something else. Another presence, one that made the sliver of his soul that had been called to the surface by his uncle's use of his old name recoil away.

" _Why, Skywalker._ "

Snoke's voice, ringing through every fibre of his being, was filled with cold triumph.

" _Snoke_ ," Skywalker said, his tone controlled but disgust still leaking through.

" _What are you doing here, and so... alone?_ "

There was half a second of silence, when Kylo felt Luke drawing in power from all around, and still didn't know what to do.

" _Well done, Ren. Just like we always planned._ "

Skywalker's focus was like a physical pressure as it snapped back to him, and his anger was boundless.

" _You_ ," he snarled.

" _No!_ " Kylo objected. " _I didn't have anything to do with this!_ " But it was only half the truth, and in the Force, the lie was obvious to all.

" _Now_ ," Snoke growled, his disgust not quite enough to cover the pleasure in the order.

The onslaught was instant and far stronger than even Kylo had expected. He was rocked by the waves as many more presences than he'd expected suddenly shot towards Skywalker, smothering him.

Kylo would have drawn in a breath if there was air to be breathed, a two-letter word on his lips.

Even as he was sure Skywalker would crumble and be crushed into oblivion, there was a surge of turbulence, all the power that Kylo had sensed Skywalker drawing in being released in a sudden explosive force. The tiny sparks that had attacked flickered as they were thrown away, and even Kylo was rocked by the shockwaves that blasted through the Force.

" _Get him_ ," Snoke growled, and Kylo could feel that the words were directed at him.

He tensed, preparing. Skywalker had tried to kill him. Hadn't even tried to talk, just crept into his room in the dead of night with murder in his eyes. And yet... and yet... Something held him back. Something that felt like a pressure on his wrist.

" _I'll do it_!" a new voice cried. " _For you, Supreme Leader._ "

Kylo recoiled in shock at Hux's words. He shouldn't be here, couldn't be here. He had never been even the slightest bit Force-sensitive. Yet there he was, rushing towards Skywalker in a blind rush, his presence blurred, as if hidden behind a layer of falling water, but still horribly obvious.

" _No!_ " Kylo finally managed to speak, but it was too late.

Skywalker, sensing or anticipating the attack, with decades of experience, was more than ready for the headlong attack. Another blast of power shook the current and all its occupants, stronger but less contained than the previous one. Hux was gone instantly, his presence dissipating in an echo that Kylo felt twice.

Skywalker's presence wavered and Kylo heard Snoke's hiss of triumph as if through a haze, but then Skywalker was gone, sending shockwaves with his sudden, messy departure. And Kylo had done nothing.

.

.

Storming up the steps, Rey grumbled to herself, furious that Luke would dare keep her out like that. She could feel Kylo's fluctuating emotions even if she couldn't identify them, and ran even faster.

Just as she reached the plaza and took two steps towards Luke's hut, the door opened.

Her anger seemed to turn to ice as Luke staggered through, leaning on the frame, eyes wild and knees trembling.

"What happened?" Rey demanded, striding over.

Luke's eyes roved around before finally settling on her face, though they didn't focus.

"Ben," he croaked. "Ambush." And he collapsed to the ground.


	9. Just a Child

Lengthening his stride, practically running through the halls, the sound of his breaths harsh through his mask, Kylo saw people flatten themselves against walls to get out of his way but didn't care.

Racing up the stairs, he turned the final corner and skidded to a stop one step into the throne room.

Carnage everywhere. Walls cracked, bodies, tiny bodies strewn around. Unconscious, or possibly worse. Snoke's gold clad figure was the only movement as he drifted among the bodies. Kylo took off his mask, staring around with unfiltered eyes.

Children. The Force sensitive children that Snoke had been collecting so carefully.

"I'm sorry, Supreme Leader," a rough whisper carried far further than it should have, and Kylo looked over. A flash of ginger hair, a hand still gripping a child's wrist. "I tried." A laboured breath escaped Hux's chest and no new one was drawn in.

Drawing closer, Kylo looked at his tight grip on the child and understood. Hux had not been Force-sensitive, but had accessed the current by riding the presence of the child, pushed it into the battle without any idea of what to do. They had both paid the ultimate price.

And all the many sparks that had first attacked Skywalker... Kylo turned in a slow circle and didn't need to count. It was all right here. A couple of the bodies were stirring, but most were either exhausted or drained. Why? Because Snoke had been expecting him to turn the tide. Maybe he had.

Rotation completed, Kylo found sunken eyes boring into his and for the first time, felt no urge to kneel.

"You!"

The word was like a physical force, shoving his gaze away as thoroughly as any blow.

"What have you done!?"

"I..." Amongst the cracked stone and drip of blood, Kylo fumbled his words. "I wasn't read—... I didn't mean to... I... It wasn't my fault... I..." He flattered. What had he done? "I did nothing!" he snarled, finally looking Snoke in the face again.

"Exactly! And in doing so, you betrayed the First Order, betrayed your blood lines!" Snoke snarled, whirling about and stalking away. "Skywalker lives! As long as he does, hope lives in the galaxy."

Snoke stopped, still facing away, his voice lowering, the disappointment clear in his tone. "I thought you would be the one to snuff it out. Alas, you are no Vader. You are just a child in a mask."

Kylo stood, unable to breathe or think. There was no air left in the room and no words in his head.

Turning away, he walked numbly out of the room, waiting until he was two turns down the stairs before his feet stopped moving. There, in the quiet darkness, he looked down at the mask still gripped tightly in his hand.

 _Thought you would be the one… no Vader… just a child… betrayed…_

There was a shower of sparks in the dark space as the mask smashed into the wall, sending shockwaves through his elbow. Again and again he pounded metal into stone and felt nothing.

Only when the pieces fell to his feet, both hands braced on the wall, eyes closed, did he let the truth in.

He was nothing. Had always been nothing. An inconvenience to his parents, a burden to his uncle, a tool to Snoke. Never his own, never seen as a person and nothing more or less.

Leaving the scattered debris on the floor, Kylo made his way numbly down the rest of the steps, floating through the corridors with far less urgency than the journey in the opposite direction. But even his numbness couldn't make him blind to the stares from all sides. Probably, none of these people would ever have seen him without his mask before. They just saw the monster, the blankness, never _him_.

It wasn't until the wind hit him that he realised his feet had carried him to the main doors, rather than back to his private quarters. For a moment, he considered turning around and going back inside, but he ignored the urge, continuing forwards as if it had been his plan all along. Every step he took away from the building and the toxicity within in cemented his certainty; he did not intend to go back.

Without faltering in his path, without even closing his eyes, he reached out along the bond... reaching for her.

.

.

Troops spread out like a white sea, choppy waves topped with froths of blood. Snoke looked out over them with mild disgust. Hux would normally have dealt with them, with all these sorts of things.

"Skywalker has hurt us for the last time!" His words carried without effort, a simple modification of the air between himself and them to spread the message without having to resort to the indignity of shouting.

"From a recent victory, at great cost, he is injured and weak. Now is the time to attack. We will destroy the entire resistance, when he cannot come to their aid. The galaxy is ready for the new order, for our order."

They remained silent, watching.

"You will be known forever as the ones to finally, once and for all, bring peace!"

Now the cheers came. People were so easy to manipulate. Now they would finally end it all. Skywalker would regret ever letting him live.


	10. Find a Way

The dark room felt stuffy, despite the open door. There wasn't enough air available. After helping Luke back inside, practically lifting him up off the floor, Rey was left sitting on the floor in a state of numb disbelief.

 _Ben... Ambush._

Two simple little words, so difficult to reconcile.

"It can't be true," she said to the silence.

Something rippled, in her blood, in the air, and she turned, standing up as a tall figure drifted into view like smoke by the door. His hair was messy, eyes wide, face pale.

"You."

The rough voice came from behind her and she turned to see Luke's eyes open, staring at Ben from where he sat slumped against the wall.

"Why have you come back?" Luke demanded.

"Luke, I had nothing to do with it," Ben said, quiet but hard.

"You don't belong here," Luke growled, gaining strength with every syllable.

"Please..." Ben hesitated for the briefest of moments. "I ask your forgiveness."

Through their bond, Rey could feel just how much those words cost him, but also the sincerity behind them.

"Luke, please," she said. "Listen to him."

Ben didn't look at her, but she could feel the acknowledgement of her plea.

"Silence," Luke hissed, and stood up, though the effort made him sway slightly. The room seemed smaller now, the very air becoming denser as Luke swelled, his stance becoming firmer. "I was right," he said, eyes fixed on his nephew. "There is too much darkness in you."

Rey looked around in time to see Ben's eyes widen but then Luke made a flicking motion with his arm and Ben was gone.

He was gone. Gone so completely she couldn't find him at all. Couldn't feel him.

"No!" Rey cried. A twitch, a shudder. Without leaving the hut, she reached for his spark, so distant and dim. Just like he had done for her, that day on the beach, she gripped him and held tight, wrapping herself around his presence, anchoring him.

For a second, he almost reached back, but then he shrugged off her touch and the wave of his emotions made her recoil.

 _Rejection. Pure isolation. Thrown away by everyone. Again._

She scrabbled after him, trying to find her way through their bond, but it was sealed tightly as he held himself apart from her... from everyone.

Blinking away the residues of his pain, she rounded on Luke, but he was still upright, and his anger rivalled hers.

"You are not to enter the Force current alone. He was just using you to get to me, because you're here."

"That's not true!" Rey objected. "He can turn... If I go to him..."

"No!" Luke cut across her. "I will not allow it." He took a short breath. "It would not go the way you think."

"Did you try to murder him?"

Luke blinked, eyes searching her face. He hesitated for a moment, and then pushed past her, out into the rain that was falling.

Rey was left with an empty room, and an empty thread tied to her wrist, and it wasn't enough.

The first blow caught him between the shoulder blades as he shuffled away down the steps and he stumbled with a grunt, falling to the ground.

It wasn't enough.

"Did you do it?" she cried as he rolled over, droplets that could have been raining trickling down her face. "Did you create Kylo Ren?"

Still he didn't answer but pushed to his feet with surprising speed. She swung her staff again, but there was a length in his hands now and he deflected the blow.

It wasn't enough.

Again and again, she struck, but he dodged her wild blows, ducking out of the way and landing a return strike on her back with ease.

It wasn't enough.

Faster she moved, but faster he reacted, deflecting her every attempt to land a hit on him as he gave ground willingly.

It wasn't enough.

He suddenly had both staffs in his hands, tossing hers aside, but she reached out, feeling something she knew, something that came to her just as it had before, in a snowy forest.

The saber ignited as she raised it high and Luke leapt backwards but not fast enough.

She went still, at last, staring down at him with water dripping from her chin and the ends of her hair.

 _Enough_.

She lowered the blue lightsaber, taking a step back as it went out.

"Tell me the truth," she demanded.

There was a long silence, but Luke's gaze had drifted away from hers, and something whispered to her to wait.

"I saw darkness," he said eventually. "I'd sensed it building in him. I'd seen it in moments during his training. But then I looked inside, and it was beyond what I ever imagined. Snoke had already turned his heart. He would bring destruction and pain and death, and the end of everything I love because of what he will become. And for the briefest moment of pure instinct, I thought I could stop it."

Luke's voice was shaking but whether from emotion or exhaustion, Rey couldn't tell.

"It passed like a fleeting shadow, and I was left with shame. And with consequence. And the last thing I saw were the eyes of a frightened boy whose master had failed him."

Luke blinked as he looked up at Rey.

"He reacted before I could explain. By the time I came round, he was gone."

"He's not gone," she said. "Not yet. He can still turn. You saved Anakin. I can save Ben."

"Rey... don't do this."

For a moment longer they stared at each other, then Rey turned and was gone into the dark rain. Someone had to save him. If Luke wasn't willing to do it, then she would.

.

At the rocky cove that passed for harbour and pier, she jumped down into the little wooden boat, landing with a splash. Closing her eyes, she willed herself forwards, ignoring the oars she had battled with on the way to the island, getting even wetter, if that were possible, as the rounded hull jarred on every rough, storm-tossed wave.

On the opposite bank, she left the boat concealed in a patch of tall reeds, as she'd found it, and waded to shore, pulling off her boots and emptying them of water as she set off towards the place where Han Solo's car was hopefully still waiting for her. What would he think, she wondered for her conviction, her belief in his son? He would agree with her, surely. He had believed until the end.

Holding the fire inside, she reached out, pushing with all her strength against the barrier between herself and Ben. His will was resolute and unyielding. She couldn't get so much as a single thought to him. No matter though. She could feel him, like a compass needle tugged undeniably north. She would find him and convince him that he didn't need to shut her out. That he didn't need to be alone as he had been for so long. As she had been. It wasn't fair. Neither of them should have gone through it.

In a truly good world, a perfect world, of the sort that neither of them had ever known, they would never have had to face any of it alone.

.

.

He felt her reaching, her mind like wisps of smoke against the wall he held up in the darkness of his mind. She was coming closer. Coming to find him? No, that couldn't be it. The world had shown him over and over and over again that he wasn't worth coming back for. He was only good to be thrown away. By his parents, by his uncle, by Snoke, by Luke again... He wasn't sure he could face another one.

And now he was alone. Finally, completely alone. Alone in his head, alone in this dusty old house that had been the closest structure when he couldn't face going any further. It was nice, to be alone. Just want he'd wanted. Wasn't it?

Eyes still closed, he rubbed his face against his knees. Alone was good. Alone didn't hurt. Not so much, anyway. It couldn't hurt as much as letting people in. The thought of another person getting close just to cast him aside again... the idea made his stomach clench with fear and he gave a cold, self-deprecating smile. What would Hux think of that? The mighty Kylo Ren, afraid to let someone in. But Hux was dead now. Maybe Kylo Ren was dead too. Maybe it was just Ben Solo who was afraid.

Afraid of people, afraid of closeness, afraid of love...

His eyes snapped open in the darkness at the two images the word conjured up. His mother. And a scavenger girl.

No, that wasn't true.

He thought of his mother, how he'd felt her presence and hesitated, not pulling the trigger but not calling off the attack either, and then he'd heard the explosion of the rocket launcher next to him, and seen the missile arching through the air towards its target... His mother was gone.

Rey hadn't been there though. She was still alive.

No.

He closed his eyes again. It was a lie. It was wrong. And yet...

Opening his eyes, he lifted his head, wincing against the faint light.

He was so afraid, so very afraid, but if he thought about it, if he pushed through, if he only gave himself space to realise... he's glad she's not hurt. He cares for her. He... loves her?

Surely that was wrong.

And yet... love is never wrong.

Love is balance.

.

.

 **A/N:** I'm disproportionately proud of this chapter, and it's one of my favourite moments, despite not being the biggest. It was at this point while watching Lion King 2, at the start of Love Will Find a Way, that everything finally fell into place and I decided I would actually write this fusion, so it holds a special place in my heart. The lyrics aren't a perfect match, but I hope enough came across and it didn't feel too forced.

Let me know what you thought of this chapter!


	11. Arrivals

Snapping shut the communicator, Rey refocused on the road, gripping the wheel tightly, hearing the Falcon engine roar. Leia's voice still rang in her ear, calm but tight, quiet but afraid. She hadn't asked after her brother, and Rey hadn't told her that she'd failed. Just that she was on her way back. It was true. She just had one stop to make, and it wasn't too far away. She could feel it… could feel him.

.

It was a dank and miserable place, set back off the road, windows boarded up. A casualty of the war, no doubt. Pulling around the back, she parked up beside the machine that would have confirmed the occupant of the house even if she couldn't feel him. Sleek and low, the single-rider speeder was completely black, drawing the eye against the dusty surroundings.

Leaving the car she'd adopted next to the far more modern machine, Rey walked hesitantly up the steps to the back door, suddenly nervous as she hadn't been on the journey. Refusing to hesitate, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

It was dark and cool out of the sun, the interior of the house coming into view slowly as her eyes adjusted. The room was empty, dust covering every surface, cobwebs gathered at the ceilings. Cautiously, she stepped forwards, towards the two doors. One led to a hallway, even darker, just as abandoned. The other went through to the other room looking out the back of the house. It was dim, the figure in front of the window blocking most of the light.

"I never did forget the sound of that engine," he said, as she walked into the middle of the room. "Why did you come?" The words were edged with a bitterness that made Rey frown.

"For you."

He stiffened slightly, or maybe that was just her imagination, the light playing tricks with his silhouette. Turning, he walked ever so carefully over to her, standing with several feet between them. His face was blank, his eyes dark, but they were rimmed with red.

"For you," she repeated. Raising her left hand, she reached carefully towards him. So close, she could almost feel the bond, running from her life to his. It may have been tethered at her wrist, but she could feel it throughout her body, in every piece of her body.

His hand rose to meet hers, his gloves gone.

They weren't watching the horizon this time, eyes fixed on each other.

"We have to go," Rey said eventually.

His eyebrows drew together and for an instant, he looked like Kylo Ren again. It was gone at once, leaving Ben. Intense, focused, but still Ben.

"You're right," he said, breaking the link between their hands as he walked back to the window. "We'll take the Falcon, go north. They won't find us. We can get out, start our own world, rebuild everything the way it's meant to be. No Sith, no Jedi. Just us. We're one within the Force, we can be one outside it too."

"One within the Force," Rey murmured. What had Luke said? _We are all one within the Force._ "Ben," she said, louder now, breaking through his pacing and planning. Stepping into his path, she grasped his arms, halting his movement.

"We have to go back," she said.

For a moment, he just stared at her. Then his face shut down, wiped clean of emotion. He stepped backwards, away from her, out of reach.

"You're kidding."

"If we leave now," Rey said, "the universe will be divided forever. There won't be anything left to rebuild from. Everyone will be dead."

He just looked at her, and her hope slipped.

"I promised your mother I would go back," she said, blinking hard. "I want you to come with me. Please."

Something twitched, a light flickering in his eyes.

"My mother?" he asked. "But she's…" He did not finish the sentence.

"I spoke to her this morning," Rey said, frowning at the expression on his face.

"But… I… I _felt_ her, during an attack and I couldn't… it wasn't me, but… there was an explosion… She's gone."

"No," Rey said, shaking her head. "She's alive, she's with the resistance. They're hiding, but they won't be able to stay forever, we have to…" her voice trailed off as all colour drained from Ben's face. "What?" she whispered, suddenly afraid. "What is it?"

"They can't hide," he said, eyes never leaving her. "There was another plan."

.

.

It was chaos, but controlled chaos. A maelstrom, with General Organa at the centre. Orders dispatched, messages to send, requests for supply inventories. The words flew back and forth around her, but the movement never came too close. Until one. Always that one.

"General!"

Her head snapped up, watching the mop of unruly hair dodging through the crowd. Reckless to the point of being dangerous, but always reliably present. Poe's hand brushed Finn's as they passed, a move both calculated and desperate, hidden and revealing.

"What news?" Leia asked, ignoring the brief exchange between the two young, _so very young_ , men.

"They're coming."

Leia stared at him. "What?"

"An hour out, at most."

Leia blinked. _How?_ How could they have found them so quickly? No one was supposed to know about these caves. No one had known where they were coming until they'd already set off. This was supposed to be a place to regroup, to have some time. There was no other way out.

"General?"

Someone was talking to her, but there was someone else. Someone who'd been absent, even though they'd never left, always inside… Coming to her feet, she looked past the pilot, past the deserter, past the fighters.

His hair was long and scraggly, his beard grey, but his eyes were the same as they'd ever been; sharp, watchful, full of emotion.

When Rey hadn't said anything, she'd been so sure… but he was here now. That was all that mattered.

The room was silent, the chaos turned to frozen stone, all eyes watching the newcomer approach her. Even Poe stepped aside, not seeming to notice that he chose the direction that put him closer to Finn.

"You took your time," Leia said, but there was a smile on her face as she reached out to him. Her brother took her outstretched hand, crouching down in front of her chair.

"I wanted to bring you a present, but couldn't decide what to get," Luke quipped back. The humour didn't last long, and his eyes turned to the pilot. "An hour out?"

"If that," Poe replied.

"You'd better get everyone ready then," Luke said.

There was a second of hesitation before everyone sprang to obey him. Everyone except his sister, whose hand tightened on his.

"There aren't enough of us," she said quietly. "And there's no other way out."

"You're forgetting," Luke said with a wink. "I'm a legend."

"Where's Rey?"

The girl had been the one to contact her, but it was her brother who had arrived, apparently alone.

Luke gave no answer to her question, simply standing up and striding away, leaving Leia almost as worried as she had been before he arrived.


End file.
